Amnesia
by i-luv-tom-welling
Summary: Pre-Tempest: An accident occurs, and Clark looses his memory... And does not know about his powers.


Amnesia  
  
Lightning cracked outside as Clark tossed and turned in his sheets. A dark figure loomed through the Kent's house, careful not to wake a soul. He slithered up the stairs without a sound, and went towards Clark's room. As the man walked, an object in his hand began to glow an eerie green. It got brighter as he opened Clark's door. Clark woke up as he felt the "Meteor Rock effect" take place. He watched helplessly and painfully as the dark figure closed in on him. In the illumination of the meteor rock, Clark recognised the man as someone who he had met in the Talon  
  
"Nixon." he whispered, for nearly all his strength had been drained.  
  
Roger Nixon gave an evil smile as he stood over Clark, and watched the pain and agony he was going through.  
  
Suddenly, Jonathan burst through the door carrying a rifle, and saw Nixon standing over Clark.  
  
Clark looked at his father, and quickly passed out from the pain.  
  
Nixon turned around and saw Jonathan. Swiftly, he ran for the window as Jonathan took a shot. A bullet grazed his hand, forcing him to drop the rock before he was able to climb out the window.  
  
Jonathan ran over to the window, still holding the rifle, and searched for the man. He had disappeared. He then dropped the gun, and ran over to Clark, "Clark. Clark, are you alright?" Jonathan checked his son over for any signs of injury.  
  
"Jonathan, what happened?" Martha asked as she ran through the door, then spotted the bright meteor rock.  
  
"Someone was here, and they did something to Clark." Jonathan looked back at Clark, who was still unconscious. He walked over and picked up the rock, then placed it in the pocket of his robe.  
  
"Is he okay?" She walked over and placed her hand on his forehead, "My God, he's burning up!" Martha quickly took her hand off of Clark's head.  
  
"Go get something cold for his forehead. It's the only thing we can do right now."  
  
Martha left the room and promptly came back with a bag of frozen peas. "It was the best thing I could find." she said as she gently placed it on Clark's forehead.  
  
"We should get back to bed. Everything will be fine in the morning. I hope." He took Martha, who resisted a little, by the hand, and lead her back to their bedroom.  
  
* * *  
  
"What the?" Clark awoke the next morning and was confused to find a bag of peas on his head. He shoved it off and sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Where am I?."  
  
Martha came through the doorway, "Oh good, you're up. You know Clark, you gave us such a fright last night, I could barely get back to sleep!" She walked over and placed a fresh pile of clothes beside him. As she stepped back, Martha noticed the confused look on Clark's face. "What's wrong?"  
  
"What did you say my name was? And who are you? Where am I?" he stood up and looked around the room.  
  
"Clark. Are you kidding me? 'Cause if you are-"  
  
"No!. No, I'm not." he protested.  
  
Martha turned around and called through the door, "Jonathan! I think you better come in here!"  
  
Promptly, Jonathan entered the room, "What? What is it? What happened?" Messily clad in only a pair of jeans, it was obvious that he had just gotten out of bed.  
  
"I think Clark has amnesia."  
  
* * *  
  
"So he doesn't remember anything?" Chloe asked Martha over the phone.  
  
"No, not from what we've seen so far. And so I was thinking that maybe if you and Pete came over and talked to Clark, his memory might start to come back."  
  
"Sure Mrs. Kent, anything for Clark. I'll call Pete and tell him." she said in her usual chipper voice, "Oh, and by the way, what kind of accident did Clark have?"  
  
"Well, he."Martha tried to think of something fast, "He must have tripped in the loft last night, and landed in the hay compartment below. Jonathan found Clark unconscious and carried him to his room. We thought he'd be ok, but when he woke up."  
  
"Ok, well, I'm glad he's not injured." Chloe tried to continue sounding perky, "I'll be over as soon as I can."  
  
"Thanks so much Chloe. I don't know what we'd do without you." Martha sighed.  
  
"It's no problem. See you soon!"  
  
"Bye!" she hung up the phone, then turned to Clark, who was seated at the table. "Clark, your friends Chloe and Pete are coming over. You've known Pete since you began school, and you met Chloe in grade eight."  
  
"Alright. So [i]mom[/i], uh, is there anything I should know about myself?"  
  
Martha hesitated, "Um, why don't you go talk to your father? I really need to get a start on baking some apple pies for the Spring Market Sale tomorrow. I think he's out feeding the cows."  
  
"Ok. Which way?" Clark laughed, standing up.  
  
"Through that door, there." she pointed to the screen door leading outside from the kitchen.  
  
* * *  
  
Clark approached Jonathan from behind, "Is there anything I can do to help out?"  
  
Jonathan turned around, surprised, "Sure! Could you grab a couple of those bags of feed and bring them over here?" he went back to emptying a bag into the feeding apparatus.  
  
"Ok." Clark walked over and took one of the bags from the truck, " Whoa, these are light!" he exclaimed, picking up a few more in the process.  
  
His father laughed, "Yeah, for you!"  
  
Clark turned, confused, and brought the bags over to Jonathan. "What do you mean?"  
  
Jonathan's smile dropped and he cleared his throat, "I'll, uh, tell you later." and he nodded towards Clark's approaching friends. "Why don't we catch up later this afternoon."  
  
"Right." he said, then, before he turned to greet his 'friends', Clark quietly asked, "It's Chloe and Pete, right?"  
  
He nodded, "Yep."  
  
* * *  
  
"Besides working in the Torch office, what else do I do? Am I on any sports teams or anything?" Clark asked. They were all sitting in the loft, looking at pictures and other memorabilia that Chloe had brought over.  
  
"You've never really taken a liking to sports, Clark. We were going to try out for the football team together, but you decided not to at the last minute. You like playing basketball, though." Pete said, and looked in the general direction of Clark's basket ball, which was sitting in the corner.  
  
"Oh. ok. Um, do I have a girlfriend?" Clark's eyes shifted from Pete to Chloe.  
  
Chloe smiled, "Well, you asked me to the Spring Formal that's coming up next weekend."  
  
Now it was Clark's turn to smile, "That's great. I'm glad I have such good taste in women."  
  
Chloe wasn't sure if she should take that as a compliment, "Yeah. Why don't we take you around town? Maybe stop by the Talon then head to the Torch office."  
  
"You could catch up with Lana at the Talon. whoops." Pete slipped up. He looked at Chloe who was shooting daggers at him.  
  
"And Lex." she said, still staring at Pete.  
  
"Who are they?" Clark asked.  
  
"Just some of your other friends." Pete replied, then he quickly stood up in an attempt to shake Chloe's stare. It worked.  
  
Chloe turned to Clark and started gathering her things from the table into her bag, "You better go tell your parents that you're going with us, or they might get worried."  
  
Clark helped Chloe gather some of her photos, and handed them to her, "Oh yeah, one more question. Do I work out often?" He was thinking about the packages of cow feed that he had carried.  
  
"Um, not that I know of. I mean, you do live on a farm, which involves working with a lot of heavy machinery and objects, so in a way, I guess you do." She finished putting the rest of her things in her bag, and started heading down the stairs. "C'mon, if we hurry, we can beat the noon- rush at the Talon."  
  
Clark and Pete followed her down the stairs and out the doors of the barn.  
  
"So I'll go tell my mom where we're going I guess." Clark said as they headed towards the house.  
  
"Ok, we'll wait out here for you." Pete said, stopping by the wooden gate beside the road.  
  
Clark went inside, and Martha said that it was great that Chloe and Pete were taking him downtown, since that's where he spends a lot of his time anyways. As Clark exited the house, he heard the radio play music from inside.  
  
[i]I will remember you  
  
Will you remember me?  
  
Don't let your life pass you by  
  
Weep not for the memories [/i]  
  
He sighed. "I [i]wish[/i] I could remember."  
  
[i]Remember the good times that we had?  
  
I let them slip away from us when things got bad  
  
How clearly I first saw you smilin' in the sun  
  
Wanna feel your warmth upon me, I wanna be the one [/i]  
  
Chloe watched him walk down the porch stairs. He looked the same, and sounded the same to her, but he just wasn't Clark. What if he didn't get his memory back by the time of the dance? Would she still want to go with him? She needed to find something soon that would bring his memory back. But what?  
  
"So. Which way?" Clark asked.  
  
"We're taking my car." Pete said, and headed through the gate and got into the driver's seat. He smiled, "Let's roll."  
  
* * *  
  
They arrived at the Talon just before noon, but it was packed with people anyways. Clark meandered towards the doors with Chloe and Pete close behind. When he entered the building, the first thing he saw was a beautiful dark-haired girl standing behind the counter. He turned around, "Wow! Who's that behind the counter?"  
  
"That's Lana." Pete said. He knew Chloe wouldn't.  
  
"Oh." He felt embarrassed. Not knowing exactly what 'Clark' would do in this situation, Clark took Chloe by the hand, "What say we find a table and have some coffee? I'll pay." he smiled.  
  
For a moment, Chloe thought she saw the 'old Clark'. She happily nodded.  
  
"You coming Pete?" Clark asked.  
  
Pete seemed to be deeply engaged in a conversation with a girl who was at a table by herself.  
  
"Guess not." he laughed. Clark lead Chloe to an empty table near the back, that was partially hidden. He just wanted some privacy with Chloe. A girl came over to take their orders.  
  
"Hey Chloe, Clark! Would you like me to tell Lana that you're here?"  
  
"Uh, no thanks. We're just stopping in for some drinks, then we gotta go." Clark said. "I'll have a large coffee, black, and Chloe will have a non-fat, no foam latte." he smiled.  
  
After the waitress turned and left, Chloe excitedly looked at Clark, "You remembered!" she grinned.  
  
"Remembered what?"  
  
"That I love the non-fat, no foam lattes! I never told you what I wanted to order." She looked into his eyes, trying to find the old Clark.  
  
"Wow, it just came out, really. Too bad nothing else came." He drummed his fingers on the table as he waited for their orders to arrive.  
  
Chloe gave a hopeful smile, "Don't worry Clark, these things are usually temporary. Memories usually come back after you find out about a significant part of your life."  
  
"So far from what I've heard, I don't have much of one." Clark laughed. Their drinks were delivered. Clark took a sip of his coffee, "Is this where we usually hang out or something?"  
  
"Well, not really. We spend a lot of time in the Torch office." Chloe blew lightly on her latte, trying to cool it off.  
  
Clark drank the rest of his coffee, which, to his surprise, wasn't that hot at all. "And are you and I going there next?" he asked.  
  
Chloe smiled, "Yes, and Casanova over there. That is, if we can manage to pull him away."  
  
They looked over at Pete, who seemed to be having all the luck in asking a girl to dinner.  
  
"Shall we be going?" Clark dropped some change on the table and stood up to help Chloe out of her seat.  
  
She was still waiting for that moment, that one moment when everything would come back to Clark. Or did it even work that way? Maybe things only came back bit by bit. However it worked, Chloe wanted Clark to remember soon. She took Clark's hand, and they left together, leaving Pete and his charm behind.  
  
* * *  
  
They arrived back at the farm about an hour later. Chloe was disappointed that neither the Talon nor the Torch office brought any memories back. What else did Clark do in his spare time besides farm work? Those three things were pretty much what Clark did, and if they didn't help him, then what would? She decided it was time for his parents to give it a try, "Hey, Clark, I better let you spend some time with your parents, ok? Call me later and we could get together or something. If you want."  
  
"Alright, sure." Clark said, reluctantly, He didn't exactly feel comfortable alone with his parents for some reason. It was like they knew something, something big, something they might not want him to know.  
  
"Ok, so I'll see you later." she smiled, "Bye!"  
  
"Bye Chloe." He watched her drive away, then turned and went towards the house. He walked in and found his parents sitting at the kitchen table, as though they were expecting him.  
  
Jonathan gestured him to come over, "Have a seat, son."  
  
* * *  
  
He lead her up to the loft, and they both sat down on the couch. Clark's face turned serious. "Chloe.. When my dad and I talked today, and everything came back, I. It made me realize that I haven't been exactly truthful to you in the past. And I should have." Clark turned around and flicked on the radio, just in case anyone was listening.  
  
[i]And I'd give up forever to touch you  
  
'Cause I know that you feel me somehow  
  
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be  
  
And I don't want to go home right now [/i]  
  
"What do you mean?" She was fearing the worst. Was he with another girl this whole time? Was it Lana?. Is Clark gay? No, that's not possible. But still.  
  
[i]And all I can taste is this moment  
  
And all I can breathe is your life  
  
'Cause sooner or later it's over  
  
I just don't want to miss you tonight [/i]  
  
"Well. You're going to think this is crazy, but." He looked deep into her blue eyes, and took a breath. "Chloe, my parents didn't really adopt me. In fact, they found me out in a field, on the day of the meteor shower. with a spaceship. Which means I'm a. I'm an alien, Chloe." Clark stared at the floor, afraid of what Chloe would say, afraid of what she'd do.  
  
[i]And I don't want the world to see me  
  
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
  
When everything's made to be broken  
  
I just want you to know who I am [/i]  
  
She gave a little laugh of relief, disbelief, and fear, "Excuse me?"  
  
"Please. You're the only one that knows now, besides my parents. Chloe, I trust you. You're my best friend, and I feel that I can trust you with anything. Like this." Clark tried to look her in the eye, but it was difficult.  
  
Chloe fought back tears, "Clark, if you're joking, you are so in for it." She tried to smile, but it failed. She was scared.  
  
[i]And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming  
  
Or the moment of truth in your lies  
  
When everything feels like the movies  
  
Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive [/i]  
  
"I know you've always suspected there was something strange about me, like how I'm always there to save you, or Lana, or Lex. I have these. These gifts, powers. I don't know what else to say. I'm not going to lie to you anymore. I never wanted to lie, but I always felt like I had no choice. But now." Clark took a deep breath, grasped the armrest, and forced himself to look her in the eyes. "Chloe, I love you. And I always will. No matter what." He wanted to hold her hand. He wanted to make everything ok. But it was obvious that it wasn't ok. Maybe it never would be again.  
  
"Clark." Chloe reached out for his hand, and grasped it. "I love you too."  
  
[i]And I don't want the world to see me  
  
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
  
When everything's made to be broken  
  
I just want you to know who I am [/i] 


End file.
